Shop Links, Selling, and Self-Promotion (Please Read)

[Chippy The Chinchilla]

Shop Links, Selling, and Self-Promotion (Please Read)​

Hey everyone — quick housekeeping to keep the HLI community friendly, fair, and drama-free.

HLI runs two official shops:

• HobbyLinkInternational.com (traditional scale modeling & hobby supplies)
• HLI3DFX.com (3D prints, print-on-order items, and occasional stash sales)

We’re always happy for members to share hobby content — builds, reviews, tools you love, and helpful links — but we do have a few important rules around selling and shop promotion.

1) No promotion of competing shops or direct competitors​

To protect the time, money, and work that goes into keeping HLI running, members may not advertise their own shop/business here if it sells the same type of products we offer — especially anything that’s direct competition (kits, hobby supplies, STL/3D print products, printed models, etc.).

This includes “soft” advertising like:

• “DM me, I sell these”
• dropping shop links in threads/signatures
• posting discount codes or “launch” announcements
• repeatedly steering people to your store

If you’re unsure whether something counts as competition, ask an admin first — we’re reasonable, we just want it handled the right way.

2) No buying/selling/trading on the forum without admin approval​

At this time, there is no dedicated Buy/Sell/Trade section on purpose.
We’ve learned the hard way that even good intentions can turn into headaches when a deal goes sideways — and we don’t want hassles between members, disputes, chargebacks, or “he said / she said” situations.

So please follow this rule:

• Do not post items for sale or solicit sales (including “PM me to buy”) unless you’ve contacted an admin and received approval.

If something is approved, we’ll tell you where and how to post it so it stays clean and fair for everyone.

3) What IS totally welcome​

• Sharing your builds, WIPs, and finished projects
• Tool/material recommendations that help other builders
• Links to non-competing resources (tutorials, references, museums, paint charts, etc.)
• Your hobby socials (YouTube/Instagram portfolios) when shared in the appropriate area

4) If you want to request an exception​

Just message an admin/mod first with:

• what you want to post
• a link (if relevant)
• why you’re sharing it

We’ll get back to you and keep it simple.

Thanks for understanding — these rules exist to keep the community positive, protect the HLI shops that support the forum, and avoid any member-to-member drama.